Japan’s obsession with all things ‘Kawaii’ has not lessened at all over the last few weeks, that’s for sure. ’90s Japanese adult-movie star Ai Iijima (now a mainstream celebrity) is in the news for having ‘found true love’… new ‘idols’ (cute celebrities) seem to spring up almost daily, and the sports-world is no different…

So just a quick update on one of Japan’s favorite idols at the moment, the 15 year old Ryo Ishikawa – nicknamed “hanikami oji” (bashful prince) who is in Nagoya to play in the Japan Amateur Championships, which started Tuesday. Normally a fairly quiet affair, the Aichi country club has had to triple the amount of security it normally employs for the event. A course official stated that normally they only have to do this for pro-events, and even then, only when a really famous golfer is playing.

Ishikawa is expected to have a following of perhaps 4,000 fans, but his aims are being kept realistic: “I want to aim at finishing first if I can get through the elimination rounds,” Ishikawa said.